The new plan

Hopefully the new plan is “as cunning as a fox what used to be Professor of Cunning at Oxford University but has moved on and is now working for the U.N. at the High Commission of International Cunning Planning”.

My surgeon has emailed the manufacturer of the Endosponges for some additional technical support, and any information on new developments that they might have in the pipeline that could he helpful in my case.

In the meantime he spent some time today disassembling a couple of Endosponges, and working out how to modify them to make them a lot smaller. He also tested them out to see how much suction they are actually generating, and apparently it’s not very much. Which normally is essential, as too much suction can cause serious problems too, but in my specific case is somewhat problematic.

So, the subtle and cunning plan is to make a couple of much smaller Endosponges by radically cutting them down, and then embedding them back into the abscess again. He’s then going to turn up the suction to try to counteract the inflexibility of the rear wall of the abscess, while also packing the lumen of the bowel to help to press the abscess closed, potentially using yet another endosponge for that.

The hope is that this will allow the cavity to be pulled tightly together around the cut-down endosponges (as would normally be the case) allowing the wound surfaces to start to knit together and the abscess to close up.

The intention is to do this on Sunday morning, and his feeling is that if we see signs of the wound surfaces knitting together at the change after that, on Wednesday afternoon, then it will be worth considering continuing with the vacuum treatment. If on the other hand there is no sign of any change in the cavity then we should discontinue the endosponges, and see if my body will respond better to simply being left to its own devices again for a time.

Meanwhile the trigger for deciding if I need to switch to the colostomy remains the urological problems I was experiencing. If they return then that will ultimately force our hand, and dictate that I accept the permanent colostomy.

Meanwhile he’s recommending that I try to spend the day out of the hospital tomorrow, and if that is successful, that we try to get me home on the days and nights between the operations on Sunday and Wednesday. Which will be great, because there really is no place like home, especially when you’re not feeling well.